What's happening
Sophos Home will display different messages depending on why a website is blocked. If a website is filtered as blocked or detected as malicious, Sophos Home may show messages like "Website Blocked," "Web Content Blocked," or "Secure Connection Failed." The specific message will vary based on whether the website was accessed using a secure (HTTPS) or insecure (HTTP) connection.
Click here for examples
These messages will vary based on whether you access the website via https (secure) or http (insecure)
Website Blocked
To keep you secure online, access is blocked to websites categorized as...
Web Content Blocked
Block message related to Secure Connection
What to do
- NOTE If the message states that the site is classified as malicious please refer to this article
- Option 1 - Add the specific blocked URL to the Website Exceptions on your Sophos Home dashboard.
- Option 2 - set the Category to Allow (this will be the case for streaming sites, as they use multiple urls) For more information regarding categories and how to unblock them please see this article
- Option 3 - Review the site's category using Intelix, and if needed, request a recategorization
How to add the blocked URL to the Website Exceptions
- Sign in to your Sophos Home dashboard.
- Select the computer where the website is blocked.
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Go to the Web filtering tab.
- Scroll down to Website Exceptions.
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Add the website domain to the field then press Enter on your keyboard. You will then see the added domain below the field.
- Try accessing the website on the affected computer to confirm that the above changes has been applied.
- If the site is still not accessible, you may need to unblock the category instead, see steps below.
How to allow websites by categories
Sophos Home users can filter website access by category, not individual URLs. Some categories can be complex to manage. For example, if the "Streaming Media" category is set to block, adding exclusions for specific sites within that category will likely fail. This is because those sites may use multiple content delivery networks and servers, which won't be unblocked unless the entire "Streaming Media" category is set to "Allow."
Additionally, some websites may be considered under multiple categories by Sophos Home. For instance, a site that contains a chat feature, among other content, may be accessible overall, but could trigger a block message when the chat functionality is accessed, if the "Chat" category is set to be blocked.
- Sign in to your Sophos Home Dashboard
- Click on the computer you would like to configure
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Access the WEB FILTERING tab.
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Select the website categories that you would like to Allow by clicking on the circle under Allow
For more details see how to set up Web Filtering